Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
of
Tort
By: Sir Mahmood Ahmed Khan
ACCA Paper F4
It is not a breach of contract, where the obligation which is alleged to have been
breached arose under an agreement between two parties.
It is not a crime, where the object of proceedings is to punish the offender rather
than compensate the victim.
A tort is a civil wrong and the person wronged sues in a civil court for
compensation or an injunction.
In tort no previous transaction or contractual relationship need exist
Types of tort
Trespass to land
Trespass to land involves one or a combination of the following acts without lawful justification
Nuisance
Landowners have the right to use their land as they see fit and not to have their land interfered with.
Nuisance occurs where the use of land by one occupier causes damage to a neighbouring occupier or their
land.
Private nuisance
This is the 'unlawful interference with a person's use, or enjoyment of land, or some right or in connection
with it'
Public nuisances are not related to private nuisance as they are created by statute and are therefore
criminal offences. Examples include obstructing the highway, takeaway restaurants creating litter and
odours and 'raves' that attract hundreds of people late at night creating noise and disturbance to a wide
area.
Battery
Battery involves the intentional bringing of a material object into contact with another person. It is not
just restricted to violent acts, but can also include non-violent acts such as the application of 'tone rinse' to
a scalp - Nash v Sheen (1953). For liability to be created it is just the act that must be intentional - not the
injury.
Assault
Assault is the intentional act of putting another in reasonable fear or apprehension of immediate battery.
Words may not enough to create a liability unless they are accompanied by menacing or threatening
actions. For example, telling someone you will shoot them may not be classed as assault unless you are
pointing a gun at them as well.
False imprisonment
False imprisonment involves unlawfully arresting, imprisoning or preventing a person from leaving from
where they are
Defamation
The expression or publication of false or defamatory statements that is not lawfully justified are known
collectively as defamation. In other words, defamation involves the ridicule of an individual or holding
them in contempt.
Deceit
It is a wrong whereby the claimant is mislead into taking actions that are to his detriment. A typical
example of deceit is the con-artist who encourages an individual to pay him money for goods that he has
no intention of supplying.
Passing-off
It is the use of a name, mark or description by one business that misleads a consumer to believe that their
business is that of another. This tort often occurs when expensive 'designer' products such as watches or
clothing are copied and sold as 'originals' to unsuspecting customers.
Duty of care
The basic rule
The question of whether or not a duty of care exists in any situation is generally decided by the courts on
a case by case basis, with each new case setting a precedent based on its own particular facts.
The following factors should be considered when deciding if a duty of care has been breached:
Probability of injury
It is presumed that a reasonable man takes greater precautions when the risk of injury is high. Therefore
when the risk is higher the defendant must do more to meet his duty. In Glasgow Corporation v Taylor
1992 local authority was held to be negligent when children ate poisonous berries in a park. A warning
notice was not considered to be sufficient to protect children.
The thing which caused the injury was under the management and control of the defendant.
The accident was such as would not occur if those in control used proper care.
A person will only be compensated if he has suffered actual loss, injury, damage or harm as a
consequence of another's actions. Examples of such loss may include:
Personal injury
Damage to property
Financial loss which is directly connected to personal injury, for example, loss of earnings
Pure financial loss is rarely recoverable
Multiple causes
The courts often have difficulty in determining causation where there are a number of possible causes of
injury including the negligent act. The courts must decide on the facts if the negligent act was the one that
most likely caused the injury.
The actions of the claimant themselves may break the chain of causation. The rule is that where the act is
reasonable and in the ordinary course of things an act by the claimant will not break the chain.
Natural events
The chain of causality is not automatically broken due to an intervening natural event. In situations where
the breach puts the claimant at risk of additional damage caused by a natural event the chain will not be
broken. However, where the natural event is unforeseeable, the chain will be broken.
Remoteness of damage
Even where causation is proved, a negligence claim can still fail if the damage caused is 'too remote'. The
test of reasonable foresight developed out of The Wagon Mound (1961). Liability is limited to damage
that a reasonable man could have foreseen. This does not mean the exact event must be foreseeable in
detail, just that the eventual outcome is foreseeable.
Defences to negligence
Contributory negligence
A court may reduce the amount of damages paid to the claimant if the defendant establishes that they
contributed to their own injury or loss, this is known as contributory negligence.
This defence is available to the defendant where both parties have expressly consented to the risk (such as
waiver forms signed by those taking part in dangerous sports), or it may be implied by the conduct of the
claimant.
An awareness of the risk is not sufficient to establish consent. For this defence to be successful the
defendant must prove that the claimant was fully informed of the risks and that they consented to them